The Struggler Reborn
by demonic hellfire
Summary: A member of Fairy Tail regains memories of their previous life and is forced to continue the war against the darkness they lead centuries before. M because this is Berserk.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own the characters I am writing about expect for OCs

* * *

December 13 X784

A lone figure walked the halls of Fairy Hills. If any of the Mages who lived inside the building saw this figure they would either something out of a horror story or one of Zerefs' demons. The figure wore black armor with no helmet and instead of a face his white skull was visible. As he got to a door he placed the small box down and left.

* * *

Next Morning

Levy McGarden stretched as she got up for the day. Today was a big day and she couldn't help feeling excited. As she opened her door she heard it hit something. Judging by the sounds of the other residents of Fairy Hills it wasn't one of them. As she looked around for the source of the sound she noticed a small box. Levy chuckled neither Droy or Jet gave her jewelry so it must be Gajeel trying to say sorry.

She picked up the box and opened it. She blinked at the strange abstractionist human face on a pedant. It wasn't her style, but she could use it to get some laughs with the other girls of Fairy Tail.

* * *

Guild Hall

Makarov grinned as he looked at the members of Fairy Tail. Today was the day he was going to tell them of those who would have the chance to become S-ranked. He saw Levy sitting with Erza, Cana, and Wendy. He smiled as he saw Levy pull a small box out of one of her pockets and opened it up and pulled out a necklace with her left hand.

"Gajeel left this tacky piece of jewelry at my door last night." Levy showed Erza, Cana, and Wendy the strange necklace.

"That is tacky, what do you think Erza?" Cana chuckled. She stopped chuckling as she turned to face Erza. Erza pupils had dilated and her body seized up. Before they could ask what was wrong Erza lurched sideways.

Levy tried to catch Erza as she fell off her chair, but was unable to do so. Erza began to convulse as she hit the floor. Wendy rushed over to Erza and turned her head to the side. "Someone get a belt!" She yelled. The rest of the guild rushed over as they tried to prevent Erza from further injuring herself.

"Got it." Cana removed her belt and held Erzas' mouth open as Wendy used the belt to keep Erza mouth from closing.

"How does a piece of jewelry cause a seizure?" Levy muttered.

"No freaking idea shrimp." Gajeel stated as got over to them.

"You gave her the freaking thing Gajeel." Cana snapped at the Iron Dragon Slayer.

"I didn't give Levy that… Bahelit." Gajeel stated after looking at the necklace dangling from Levy's left hand. Color drained from Levy's face as she heard the word Bahelit.

"Baywhat?" Natsu looked confused.

"Something that is supposed to be only a legend." Mesh stated.

Gajeel took the Bahelit out of Levy's slack left hand and felt the outer layer begin to collapse as he tightened his grip on it revealing a Lacrima inside of it. "It's a fake."

"How did a fake Bahelit cause Erza to collapse?" Cana shook her head.

Levy finally getting over the shock of what she had unwittingly brought to the guild. At the same time Erza stopped convulsing. Levy quickly moved into a position that allowed her to look at the back of Erzas' neck and moved Erzas' hair out of the way. "Fuck." There was no other way to describe what she felt as she saw a near double square with a line going through it.

"Language." Carla chastised Levy.

"Get her to the infirmary." Makarov ordered.

"I need to look in the library for something." Levy quickly got to her feet as Elfman and Bickslow picked Erza up.

"I'll go with shrimp I think I know what she's looking for." Gajeel pocketed the Lacrima as he followed Levy, Panther Lily followed the Iron Dragonslayer.

"If it can help Erza I'll help." Natsu pounded his chest as he followed them.

"You have no idea what you're looking for flame brain." Gray sighed as he followed the Fire Dragon Slayer. Lucy sighed as she and Happy followed the two rivals.

* * *

"Can you two not antagonize each other while we try and help your teammate." Gajeel glared at the Fire Dragon Slayer and Ice-Make Mage. The two of them had been trading insults since they had gotten to the library and things looked like they had the potential to escalate even more. He noticed the Jet and Droy where trying to spy on them and failing terribly.

"Found it." Levy called as she removed a heavy book from the bookcase. The book was pure black and written on the side was The Legend of The Black Swordsman.

"Are you sure this is the right book, I've never heard of that legend?" Gray asked.

"I'm sure… hard to forget a book that made me puke multiple times." Levy stated as she walked towards the infirmary.

"She's not the only one." Gajeel added then sighed as he saw the questioning looks pointed at him "Human sacrifice, and 'fairy' war scene."

"Wait there are fairies in this book?" Natsu eyes widen.

"There called elves, but they look like what we consider fairies." Gajeel explained as they reached the infirmary.

"How do you think this book will help?" Gray asked.

"It has drawings in it of scenes and images." Levy explained.

"Does it have pictures of fish?" Happy began to drool at the thought of pictures of fish.

"Idiot." Pantherlily slapped the blue exceed.

"None that I would recommend trying to eat." Levy glared at Happy. She put the book down one of the tables and pulled Gale-Force Reading Glasses out of one of her pockets, Gajeel grabbed a puke bucket and placed it on the table. "Thanks."

Wendy looked up from the side of the cot where Erza motionless body lay. Her Heart Kreuz had been removed and replaced with hospital gown. "Makarov ordered everyone out so Erza wouldn't be bombarded by questions when she wakes up."

"Smart thinking." Gajeel nodded.

"Found it." Levy stopped on page showing a seal over the mark that looked identical to the one of Erza. She was glad she had an idea were the seal was at and managed to avoid many stomach churning scenes.

"Is it the same position?" Gajeel inquired.

Levy froze before nodding. "Yes, it is."

"Same position as what?" Natsu snapped. He hated how cryptic the two of them had suddenly become.

"The protagonist in this book." Levy replied.

"Juvia told me parts of what happened at the Tower of Heaven. That is nothing compared to what his life was like." Gajeel supplied.

"How can anything be worse than what Erza went through?" Gray wondered.

"Friends used as human sacrifice in front of his eyes." Levy answered. This cause everyone, but Gajeel to pale Wendy in particular looked ready to puke.

"Could she wield it?" Gajeel quickly asked before the others could ask any more stomach churning questions.

"Without a doubt." Levy confidentially replied.

"Wield what?" Lucy tried to keep up with how Gajeel and Levy shifted between different areas of Erza condition.

"A slab of iron." Gajeel grimaced.

"Of course, you would call it that." Levy chuckled.

"What's so funny about of slab of iron?" Panther Lily blinked at Levys' reaction.

"Gajeel is only calling it that, because its name is Dragonslayer." Levy stated.

"That thing couldn't kill a dragon." Gajeel countered.

"No sword can hurt a dragon." Natsu nodded.

"It's 6 and half feet long, and weighs 400 pounds. I seriously doubt a full powered swing from it would not be able to cut through a dragon." Levy retorted.

"Whatever." Gajeel snorted.

"I'm going to put the seal on Erza now. I can't do it with you guys hovering over me." Levy voice brokered no room for argument.

"Got it." Gajeel nodded as he and the others left Levy to place the suppression seal on Erza.

* * *

Two hours later

Levy wiped her brow as she finished the seal. She had expected it to be hard due this being far different from her Letter Magic, but she managed do so after three attempts. Luckily for her the failed attempts did not cause any injuries to Erza as they just appeared to shrivel like a piece of paper in a fire and left only no marks of their present what so ever.

"So that is why you cleared the room." Makarov voice caused Levy to nearly jump into the air. She turned around to see Makarov sitting at the table where she had originally set the book down, with the chair turned to face her. She also noticed Mesh leaning in the doorway. "Been here over an hour. I announced those that are going to participate in this year's S-rank trials. I left your name off since I decided not to allow Erza to help with the trials and seeing how long it took you to apply that seal on her I think you can understand why I want someone who knows how to apply it staying behind."

"I was going to withdraw myself if Erza stayed behind." Levy nodded.

"Glad to see you're putting a guildmates safety over promotion." Makarov statement told Levy that if she had tried to argue she would have gotten a lecture on the subject.

"Have you talked with Warren about seeing if he can look inside Erzas' head, and find out what's wrong?" Levy enquired.

"You and I both know that is a bad idea if she now contains the Beast." Makarov shook his head.

"We both know that isn't the only reason you don't want Warren in her head." Levy replied crisply.

"True I don't want for him to see the abuse Erza went through." Makarov nodded.

"Anything to add Mesh?" Levy asked the teleporting member of Fairy Tail.

"Just wondering how long we can keep her here without endangering her health." Mesh took a couple of steps into the infirmary.

"At least two weeks." Makarov replied.

"Might want to move Erza anyways. If it lasts for more than a week even with new S-Rank mages it will definitely affect the rest of us." Mesh crossed his arms.

"I know, but consider the flip side of if we move her and she wakes up. I don't want to have deal with the fallout of her accidently destroying part of a hospital due to her waking up delirious." Makarov replied.

"Definitely something that should be avoided." Mesh winced.

"That's without even considering the much higher chance that something that is attracted to her brand would make its home at a hospital." Levy grimaced thinking of all the times that possession had been mentioned in The Black Swordsman.

"I'll talk with the hospital and try to secure what we need to keep her here for over two weeks." Mesh stated as he teleported out of the room.

"He's got a good head on his shoulders." Makarov smiled as he got down from the chair.

"That he does." Levy nodded.

"I suggest you get something to eat then talk with your teammates once they wake up. Gajeel had to knock them out so they didn't enter while you worked on Erzas' seal."

"Figures they'd try something like that." Levy chuckled as she and Makarov left the infirmary.


	2. Chapter 2

December 17 X784

Levy stared at Erza motionless form as she thought of the events of the last couple days. Mesh turned out to be a spy set by the Council. The good thing though was that the Council had figured to not try and force their luck with how much Fairy Tail was in debt. Given her current mood Levy would have no problem tearing apart any attempts the Council made to make the Guild pay more than it owed to them.

"Figure I'd find you here." Gajeel stated as he walked into the room locking the door behind him, Panther Lily floated in the air next to him.

"I expected Droy or Jet to be the first to find me." Levy sighed as she turns to face the Iron Dragonslayer.

"They're still trying to understand how most of the guild's strongest mages are dead." Gajeel shook his head not completely believing it himself.

"Ugh." Erza groaned as she started to move.

"Erza." Levy managed to keep her voice down. The last thing she wanted was the rest of the guild rushing into the infirmary. Even if Gajeel had locked the door that would not stop anyone from breaking it down to get to the sole remaining S Rank Mage of Fairy Tail.

Erza began to sit up in the bed her right eye was closed, and she was lifting herself up with herself up with only her right arm.

"Can you move your left hand?" Gajeel asked. Erzas' response was a swift punch with said hand to Gajeel jaw. Gajeel stumbled backwards and nearly landed on his ass but managed to regain control of his body in time to keep himself upright.

"Does that answer your question." Erza snapped.

"It does and it also about how much you were effected by regaining memories." Gajeel rubbed his jaw.

"How the fuck did you reach that conclusion." Erza glared at Gajeel with her left eye. Gajeel felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"The brand on back of your neck was a big clue. Someone decided to write a book about your first life and had many pictures of said brand." Levy stated trying to calm down the S Rank Mage as she showed said book to Erza.

"I have no idea why someone would write about the fucked up the things I had to deal with." Erza growled as she flipped the book open to a random page showing a picture of her first life and Casca kissing for the first time.

"You're not the only one who thinks that way." Gajeel stopped rubbing his jaw.

"What are you two trying to hide?" Erza opened her right eye as her gaze drifted between the two mages.

"Erza… everyone who went to Tenrou died expect for Mesh who turned out to be a Council mole." Levy struggled to control the myriad of emotions that the death of those on Tenrou created.

"How?" Erza eyes narrowed.

"Acnologia reduced Tenrou to a rock barely above sea level." Gajeel scowled.

"That's one possibility." Erza stated.

"What do you think could have happened?" Levy inquired.

"How big were the waves?" Erza responded.

"Asked the same thing to see if there was a tidal wave coming and there wasn't one." Gajeel shrugged his shoulders.

"That's impossible. The debris from the island falling into the water would've created a tidal wave." Panther Lily head perked up, he had been too distraught to think of about that detail when he heard the news.

"That and the amount of power that would have been required to reduce Tenrou to a rock would create a force the water out like a rock thrown into a lake." Erza smiled.

"You're thinking some sort of protection spell." Levy eyes widened.

"You've got it." Erza chuckled.

"Makes sense." Gajeel nodded.

"We still need to discuss the Bahelit Levy has." Erzas' eyes narrowed to slits.

Gajeel removed the Lacrima from his pocket. "It was a fake, with this in the center."

"Have you activated it yet?" Erza gaze shifted to the Lacrima.

"Figured it be best to wait for you to wake up." Gajeel answered as handed the Lacrima over to Erza.

"Have you checked to make sure it's not explosive?" Erza turned the Lacrima to look at it from every possible angle.

"If it was of the explosive variety it would have gone off when the outer layer dissolved." Gajeel stated.

"It's an older model communication Lacrima meaning that it most likely either contains a message or image." Levy supplied after looking over the Lacrima.

"So, let's see what this message is." Erza let out a pulse of her telekinetic magic and the Lacrima responded by showing a map of the mountain range near Magnolia with an X marking a cave near Mount Hakobe with the words "Reclaim your body Struggler." Written next to the X. Erza nearly threw the Lacrima at the wall but decided against doing so.

"So, Bonehead is behind this." Erza shook her head.

"If Skull Knight were behind this why not leave the Bahelit at your door?" Gajeel wondered aloud.

"Simple, the amount of jewelry and love letters that get sent to me means that I would have thrown the box away without even opening at it." Erza scoffed.

"I'm the only one who would have shown to Erza." Levy stated after thinking through what the other residents of Fairy Hills would do if they had received the Bahelit.

"When do we leave?" Gajeel asked as he looked towards the door.

"As so as we manage to convince the remaining guild members that I'm fine." Erza began to get out of the bed and reequipped her Heart Kreuz armor. "I'm going to need to have my armor modified so that I don't expose my body to attack." She muttered as she thought about which sets of armor would be viable for fighting Apostles. The answer was only her Adamantine, Armadura Fairy, and Heart Kreuz armors provided enough protection so that she didn't have to worry about leaving her body exposed. Sure, the armor she had worn before she got the Berserk Armor left her arms and legs exposed, but it did provide protection for her vital organs quite effectively. Most of the armor she now possessed only showed off her body not protect it.

"Just punch a couple of them and walk out the door should do the trick." Gajeel chuckled at the thought of Erza starting a brawl to convince them that she was fine.

"Don't even joke about that." Levy knew that might work, but it also could cause problems since Erza hadn't started a brawl since she and Mira called off their feud following Lisanna supposed death.

"Wasn't planning to do that Gajeel." Erza responded as she walked towards the door.

"Just a heads-up shrimp applied the seal over your brand, but even though you were out of a couple of days the Guildhall probably doesn't have any spirits that would attack you." Gajeel informed Erza.

"So, you're not sure if it will keep spirits away from me." Erza replied as she got to the door.

"It will, I copied the seal down to the last detail and it drained me when I set my magic into the seal." Levy assured Erza.

"It better." Erza retorted.

"Don't worry I'm sure it'll hold." Panther Lily assured Erza.

"How many of them know about it?" Erza inquired as she opened the door.

"Given that shrimp here swore when she saw it, all of them." Gajeel crossed his arms.

"Not surprising." Erza stated, before she walked out into the hall.

As Erza walked into the bar area after someone spotted her and yelled out her name causing the rest of the guild to look in her direction and proceed to descended on her.

"I'm fine, thanks for your concern." Erza gave a slight smile.

"You should be resting." Macao told Erza.

"I said, I'm fine." Erza narrowed her eyes at Macao.

"Erza I hate to tell you, but…" Macao began.

"I already know." Erza interrupted him.

"Levy told you then." Macao put his hand on his chin.

"Yes, she did. They found out where the Bahelit came from." Erza stated as Gajeel, Panther Lily, and Levy came out in the bar area.

"A cave near Mount Hakobe." Gajeel explained as eyes fell on them.

"You plan on finding whoever sent the Bahelit don't you." Droy eyes narrowed as they shifted from Levy to Erza.

"We do." Levy nodded.

"We're going with you." Jet stated.

"No, you're not." Erza turned to face the two male members of Team Shadow Gear.

"Why, Levy's a part of our team?" Droy glared at Erza, then recoiled as Erza returned his glare.

"She's the only one capable of containing the mark on my neck." Erza gestured to her Brand.

"You're new tattoo?" Jet snorted.

"It's not a tattoo." Erza snapped.

"It attracts evil spirits to it like a moth to a flame." Gajeel stated.

"What?" Macao choked out.

"Gajeel hit it on the head Macao." Erza turned to the temporary and most likely next Guild Master.

"Why didn't it act up here?" Macao eyes narrowed.

"Given the general atmosphere of the Guild, I doubt any dark spirits would live here." Erza replied as she walked towards the door. Levy, Gajeel and Panther Lily stayed back until Erza reached the door and turned to face them. It didn't take a genius to figure out what she was waiting for and the three of them quickly followed as Erza turned back around and opened the door.

* * *

The Mountain Range

Forest

Levy shivered as she clutched her jacket close to her body as she looked, into the fire of in the middle of their camp. All it was four sleeping bags one for each of them and pad on the ground. The ride to the mountain range hadn't taken that long, but they still needed to rest for the night. The fact that Erza refused to sleep in town didn't help matters even though her reasoning for doing so was sound, she had fallen asleep about an hour after night had fallen.

The fire that they had started did lessen the numbing cold that was all around them. The way the flames caused the shadows from the surrounding trees did not ease Levy's mind. She had agreed to take first watch, so she won't be wakened up in the middle of the night.

Suddenly some of the shadows moved towards them at a supernatural rate. Levy let out a shriek that woke up both Erza and Gajeel.

Erza reequipped her Heart Kreuz armor and readied herself for an Apostle sword at the ready. Gajeel also got ready to fight as he smelt the air for the Apostle. He then let out a groan as he recognized the scent of the attacker. "Get out here Rogue. We don't have time for this kind of bullshit."

The shadows receded, and a young teen walked into the clearing. "Why are you here?" He asked.

"You know this kid?" Erza eyes never moved from Rogue.

"Yeah, he's Shadow Dragonslayer, he wanted to join Phantom Lord, Jose thought he was too weak to be a member." Gajeel crossed his arms.

"He only thought I was weak because you decided to go full out." Rogue frowned at the Iron Dragonslayer.

"Really Gajeel that seems excessive." Levy rounded on him.

"Levy back off… I've seen the same thing happen before with Apostles' although that mostly revolved around them arguing about which one of them got the honor of killing me." Erza explained.

"Apostles?" Rogue raised an eyebrow.

"Demons who were human." Panther Lily supplied, Gajeel had filled him in about what Apostles' once were.

"Why would anyone want to become a demon?" Rogue asked disgusted.

"Revenge, greed, fear just to name a few." Erza grimaced.

"So, what we gonna do with him?" Gajeel gestured at Rogue.

"Take him with us." Erza stated.

"Don't I get a say?" Rogue glared at Erza.

"Kid your magic is very useful against Apostles but given my own struggles with my inner darkest I'm guessing you have the same issue." Erza frowned at the thought of the Beast of Darkness.

"You too?" Rogue eyes widen.

"Yeah it's a bitch to keep under control." Erza nodded.

"So, what's the answer Rogue?" Gajeel yawned.

"I'll join you guys." Rogue answered after thinking for a second.

"Great." Erza smiled as she looked at the young Dragon Slayer. After a few minutes the Levy was the only one awake as the others fell to sleep.

* * *

As Erza woke the group the next morning the groans coming Gajeel sleeping bag told them all that he regretted taking the middle watch. After breakfast they set off at a brisk pace.

As they got near the cave the ominous form of Skull Knight was visible. Rogue hid himself behind Levy after one look at the figure. Erza cracked a small grin at the sight before returning to a stern expression as her gaze shifted to the mounted figure.

"Why?" Erza glared at Skull Knight.

"You may have killed the God Hand, Struggler but the Idea of Evil survived and with it, so the Current of Causality still exists." Skull Knight stated.

"So, Zeref is taking over Griffiths' role of bringing darkness to the world." Erza clenched her hands.

"No, he is not. Another has been chosen for that role." Skull Knight answered.

"Who the fuck is it then?" Gajeel snarled. Erza scoffed expecting the roundabout answer, she then started to walk towards Skull Knight.

Skull Knight did not respond as Erza walked towards him, "I see that you have made your choice Struggler."

"You know as well as I as do the only reason am doing this isn't because I want to, but if I don't the deaths the I know the Apostles cause will eat away at my consciousness." Erza snapped. She summoned one of her swords and with the other grabbed her hair just above the shoulders and used the sword to cut it.

"Why did she do that?" Rogue asked.

"Long hair is easy to grab so she cut it so that she doesn't have worry about it potentially being used against her." Gajeel explained having had used the same tactic against mages with long hair in the past.

Erza walked past Skull Knight and got to cave entrance. As she went inside a bluish blur sped towards her. "Guts!" Puck exclaimed as he tried to hug Erza face only for her to put her hand up and stop the elf from doing so.

"The names Erza now Puck." Erza corrected the elf.

"You think I didn't know that?" Puck pouted.

"With how you greeted me yes." Erza walked farther into the cave and absently noted the torches that lined its walls.

"Schierke saw your spirit while in the Astral Plane." Puck explained.

"So, she's still alive." Erza smiled.

"She's the one who gave you your fake eye." Puck answered.

"She changed her hair color." Erza chuckled.

"She was surprised to see you got reincarnated after your death. Boneface thought that either a mad demon obsessed with cheese or a meddling vampire saved your soul and had you reincarnated." Puck shook his head.

"Given the terms used I'd assume neither are connected to the Ideal." Erza stopped as she got to a cast iron door.

"Yep, both of them tend to avoid staying in this reality as they don't want the Ideal to gain a foothold in their realms." Puck explained, Erza had a feeling that Skull Knight had given Puck a similar explanation that he was just rehashing.

Erza opened the cast iron door, peering into the room she saw both the Berserker Armor and her sword. A feral grin spread across her face. "Ready to fight Apostles again?" Erza asked.

"You're the one who'll be fighting them, while I cower in terror." Puck responded.


End file.
